Enabling skills in PTE are key indicators of the score. If understood properly, they can be extremely helpful to enhance the score. I am giving you the concept of these enabling skills.
Writing and Speaking performance is rated as per the enabling skills. Following are the enabling skills:
- Grammar
- Oral fluency
- Pronunciation
- Spelling
- Vocabulary
- Written Discourse.
The scores for enabling skills are based on performance on only those items that assess these skills specifically. The score range for each skill is 10-90 points.
The enabling skills reported are described as follows:
- Grammar. Correct use of language with respect to word format and word order at the sentence level.
- Oral fluency. Smooth, effortless and natural-paced delivery of speech.
- Pronunciation. Production of speech sounds in a way that is easily understandable to most regular speakers of the language. Regional or national varieties of English pronunciation are considered correct to the degree that they are easily understandable to most regular speakers of the language.
- Spelling. Writing of words according to the spelling rules of the language. All national variations are considered correct, but one spelling convention should be used consistently in a given response.
- Vocabulary. Appropriate choice of words used to express meaning, as well as lexical range.
- Written discourse. Correct and communicatively efficient production of written language at the textual level. Written discourse skills are represented in the structure of a written text, its internal coherence, logical development, and the range of linguistic resources used to express meaning precisely.
The content and form must be appropriate so that the response can receive score points for the enabling skills. For an instance, the task requires the test taker to retell a lecture about the galaxy; however, the test taker mentioned nothing about it. As a workaround, he chose social issues as the subject matter and talked elaborately about it. He will not receive any points and thus, the enabling skills will not be scored.
If a score was given for the response’s content, the scoring system consequently assesses its form. For example, if the response met the length requirement, points will be rewarded and it will then be rated according to the enabling skills and other traits demonstrated. Please be noted that this entire process is machine based. There is no human involved in it.
The enabling skills scores earned from each task compose the total enabling skills scores reflected in the score report.
The scores for content, form, and the enabling skills traits contribute to the total overall score. Many a time it is felt that the candidate has not scored well, but still, the enabling skills are in good condition. We need to analyze every aspect of the system before we reach a verdict.